Mirrors Book One: Inner Courage
by Forever Love Taito
Summary: First part to a seasonal-crossover. 02-centric. When Veemon and Gatomon are captured by dark digimon and this digimon wants to use Imperialdramon's data to plunge the worlds into chaos, can the Chosen Children save their friends and the digital world once more. Couples: Taito,Joura,Koumi,Takari,Hiyako, Daiken, VeeGato are the main.


_A/N:_Just to let you guys know, this is the first fanfic I've written by myself. The other one is a collab. That being said, please give me some feedback, whether it's positive or negative! Thanks to Shizuku Tsukishima749 for betareading this chapter and adding in some lovely romance/friendship moments.

**Chapter 1: Shattered Pain**

A sharp cry reverberated throughout the dungeon. Veemon, one of the Chosen Digimon who had helped save the two worlds from MaloMyotismon four years ago, was thrown back against the bars on the far side of the cell for what had to be the fifteenth time that day.

Gatomon desperately wanted to help her friend, and she would have if it weren't for the guards holding her back. Tears filled her eyes, but never fell. Crying wouldn't help anything.

"_Stop it_!" she yelled, trying to keep her voice steady, which was a lot easier said than done. How in the Digital World did they get in this mess? Oh, yes: Veemon's suicidal protectiveness and her masochistic loyalty…

_The evil Digimon sure kept _itself_ hidden, but not its strength. The attack on the Chosen Digimon had begun several minutes ago, and five of the Originals had already been knocked off a cliff. It was made clear soon after that no attack would work against this beast, leaving the Digimon of the New Digidestined with no choice but to retreat._

_However, this proved harder than they'd hoped, and all seemed lost when In-Training Digimon suddenly started throwing themselves at the enemy in order to give them cover. They were blasted back several times, but those that were able kept getting up to go again. Finally, Veemon couldn't stand by any longer._

"_All of you, run and hide! I'll distract him!" he told them. The smaller ones were hesitant, but ultimately listened to the more experienced Digimon and helped their friends off the makeshift battlefield. His teammates, on the other hand, halted in their tracks._

"_Veemon, don't be reckless!" she tried to reason. "You can't Digivolve without Davis!"_

"_I know that!" he replied. "But those In-Trainings were so small, yet theywere still willing to fight for us! I can't let their efforts go to waste!"_

"_Veemon…" she whispered. The dragon-Digimon's loyalty and sense of right and wrong were two of the traits she had grown to admire the most about him._ _He reminded her so much Wizardmon... _

"Look out_!" Patamon yelled, snapping the feline-Digimon back to reality. She gasped as the evil Digimon swept to attack Veemon. Without thinking twice, she ran forward and, mustering all her strength, pushed Veemon out of the way of the attack. Just like Wizardmon had done for her not so long ago._

_Veemon's eyes widened, and his heart dropped. Shielding him with one arm, Gatomon kept her eyes tightly closed as if she were in pain. What if she were hurt? What if it were worse than that? What—? He swallowed the bile rising in his throat, forced these thoughts away, and reached over to rest a gentle hand behind her ear._

"_Gatomon…why did you do that?" he asked quietly, both horrified and amazed. That was the most idiotic, most incredible thing he'd ever seen!_

"_Your efforts won't go to waste either, Veemon," the white Digimon answered softly, and he beamed down at her lovingly._

"_Gatomon, Veemon, get out of there!" Patamon warned urgently, torn between flying over to help and protecting their other teammates._

"_Please, Veemon! Davis won't be able to handle it if anything happens to you!" Wormmon begged._

_But the dragon-Digimon couldn't let up, not when he'd already made his claim. Very delicately, he draped one of Gatomon's arms around his shoulders and wrapped an arm around her waist. Glaring hatefully at the opposing Digimon, he narrowly dodged the attack with an arcing bound._

"_You're pathetic, you know that?" the enemy snarled, and Veemon's glower sharpened. "But I'll spare your friends' lives…_if _you and Wormmon come with me..."At this, the blue Digimon was taken aback. Glancing over his shoulder, he was somehow relieved to find the same confusion shining in his best friend's eyes. What could this guy possibly have to gain from _that_? Luckily, they didn't have to wait long to learn the answer. _"_Imperialdramon is an ally who may prove…" he grinned wickedly here, "…_useful_."_

_Veemon's countenance turned grim. So that was it! This was all about Imperialdramon! Whipping around, he locked eyes with Patamon. _"_Get Wormmon and Gatomon out of here!" _

_The mammal-Digimon opened his mouth to refuse, but in seeing the desperation in his friend's face, he could only give in and nod silently. Turning to the others, he reiterated, "You heard the mon! Get going!"_

_Veemon looped Gatomon's arm over his head and let go of her waist making sure she could stand. "Go with them."_

_Leading the others as far away from the danger zone as he could, Patamon put Hawkmon in charge while he went back to get Gatomon. But again, easier said than done._

"_I'm not leaving you!" she objected without missing a beat. _

_Veemon frowned. _"_Gatomon, don't be so stubborn! If something happens to you, Kari will be devastated!" _And so will I_,he thought. _

_The feline-Digimon gave him a hard look that immediately told him never to bring up her partner again if he knew what was good for him—not when they were in a situation like this._

"_Right, and Davis will be fine and dandy if you're hurt!" she retorted sarcastically, annoyed at Veemon's innate rashness. It was entirely true she admired how much love his heart could hold—that was another beautiful thing he had in common with Wizardmon—but that didn't mean she wanted to lose him as well._

"_But…Gatomon…" He _wanted_ to tell her that everything would be all right and Davis would be fine, but he couldn't bring himself to do so when he didn't know for sure…_

_In the end, though, it didn't matter what he would or would not have said. A net was thrown over them, and no matter how much they struggled, it was no use. They were trapped._

"_Veemon! Gatomon!" Patamom cried, flying forward at top speed._

"Run_!" Gatomon ordered._

"_Save yourself! Protect Wormmon for me!" Veemon charged._

_The little mammal-Digimon stared and gaped for a moment before closing his eyes tightly and clenching his paw. He did as he was told and turned tail to join the others, letting only a small whimper escape._

And that was how they had ended up here, with digital blood coating Veemon's skin and seeming to swell each time he took a ragged breath. It made Gatomon's heart clench.

She didn't know what she could do, but she knew she had to stop this insane torture. Biting each of the guards' hands in turn, she jumped out in front of Veemon and grabbed the whip just in time to save him from another strike.

"_Don't touch him_!" she growled, giving the enemy a death glare just before slicing the whip in half with her powerful claws. "Once Davis gets his hand on you, he'll make you pay for all the pain you're putting his partner through!" There wasn't a trace of fear in her voice. She already knew that this guy's torture was _nothing _compared to Myotismon's…

Behind her, Veemon was trying to open his blood-crusted eyes to see what was going on. He swore he was losing his mind because he was sure he heard Davis calling him…telling him to hang in there…

_Veemon, get up! Just hold on a little longer, buddy! I'm coming for you! That Digimon won't know what hit him!_

The last thing the dragon-Digimon saw before his world went black was Gatomon being thrown across the room.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Davis and T.K. were at it again while Ken tried to break it up and Kari just wished they would get along. The fightingfinally stopped, though, when Davis' D-3 started beeping and flashing wildly out of nowhere, and Kari's did the same thing a second later. T.K., concerned, watched for her reaction to whatever was happening, and Ken moved to stand beside Davis.

_"Davis…"_ rasped a shaky, frail voice. Davis looked up at the computers and then back down at his Digivice, confused and worried. That sounded like Veemon…

_"Kari, please come…"_ another desperate voice whimpered. Kari's eyes filled with tears.

"That was Gatomon!" she cried. Yolei placed a comforting hand on her trembling, suddenly-pale arm. "She sounded so desperate…a-and…" She bit her lip, and Davis frowned darkly.

"Veemon, too…" Davis agreed, visage shadowed and anxious beyond measure. His Digivice continued to beep and flash, but he ignored it in favor of hoping his best Digifriend was all right. Ken laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed strongly before turning to the Child of Light.

"T.K.," the blond looked up, having pulled Kari into his arms and been whispering reassuring words, "can you contact Izzy?"

The Takashi boy nodded, pulling away gently and letting Yolei hold Kari in his absence. Taking out his phone, he got through to Izzy via his Digital World emergency speed dial and explained the situation. The slamming door and labored breathing he heard on the other end a second later told him the older Digidestined was on his way.

Ken, while relieved at the news, was worried about Davis. His best friend had gone quiet and was thinking deeply, two things he _never _did unless it was something serious (and even then…). The blue-haired boy could tell just from his face how scared he was for Veemon.

"Davis?" the Ichijouji child whispered, and the gogglehead snapped up to look at him. Ken offered a tiny, comforting smile. "Don't worry. Veemon will be okay. He's tough, and remember, he's not alone. Wormmon will stick by him, no matter what."

The two boys' eyes met, and Davis smiled minutely.

"You're right, Ken! We'll solve this like everything else!" It had shaken him up, hearing Veemon sound so broken, but it reinforced his drive to never let anything bad happen to him. He peered over at Kari. "Don't worry, Kari! We'll make _sure_ our Digimon are okay!"

The girl looked up at him. "I don't want Gatomon to be hurt like she's been in the past," she admitted shakily.

Davis shook his head with a small smile. "She'll be okay. Veemon won't let anything happen to her," he assured, knowing full-well his partner cared about Gatomon a lot more than he let on and would do his best to keep her safe.

When Kari nodded at last, Yolei gave her a one-arm hug and whispered in her ear, "We'll get this solved, I promise!"

The youngest Kamiya smiled weakly. She could only hope her friends were right, for _both_ their partners' sakes.


End file.
